Trump election aidvisor admits he met with Russian officials in 2016

A former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump’s election campaign has admitted that he met with Russian officials during a trip to Moscow in 2016, after denying such meetings in the past.

The advisor, Carter Page, sent an email to at least one Trump campaign aide shortly after the trip, describing his conversations with government officials, legislators and business executives during his time in Moscow, according to a closed-door testimony he gave on Thursday to a congressional panel.

The email was read aloud during the testimony at the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, according to one person familiar with the contents of the message.

The House Intelligence Committee is one of three congressional investigations that are examining alleged connections between the Trump campaign and Moscow. US Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller is leading a federal investigation into the issue.

Page downplayed the significance of the meetings in an interview with The New York Times on Friday. “I had a very brief hello to a couple of people. That was it."He also sidestepped questions about the issue in several interviews with the Times, saying he met with “mostly scholars.”

Page had previously denied he had any meeting with Russian government officials during the 2016 US presidential campaign.

Page left the Trump campaign shortly after the trip to Russia. Page lived in Moscow from 2004 to 2007 while working as a junior investment banker for Merrill Lynch, a division of Bank of America.

PressTV-Trump slams Russia probe as 'evil politics'

US President Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton should be investigated for collusion with Russia instead of him.

American intelligence agencies claim that Russia interfered last year in the US presidential election to try to help Trump, who was then the Republican Party's presidential candidate, defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Last week, George Papadopoulos, another former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, was charged by the US Justice Department with having "close connections with senior Russian government officials."

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Monday in a federal court to having lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russia while working on Trump’s campaign.

He had met with Russian officials in 2016 and was offered damaging information about Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” court records revealed.

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also denied the allegations.

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